Characterization of Two New Records of Zygomycete Species Belonging to Undiscovered Taxa in Korea

During a biodiversity survey of undiscovered taxa in Korea, two zygomycetous fungal strains were isolated. The first strain, EML-FSDY6-1 was isolated from a soil sample collected at Dokdo Island in the East Sea of Korea in 2013, and the second strain, EML-DG-NH3-1 was isolated from a rat dung sample collected at Chonnam National University garden, Gwangju, Korea in 2014. Based on the morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer, 18S and 28S rDNA, actin and translation elongation factor-1α genes. EML-FSDY6-1 and EML-DG-NH3-1 isolates were confirmed as zygomycete species, Absidia pseudocylindrospora and Absidia glauca, respectively. Neither species has previously been described in Korea.

A Case of Cutaneous Mucormycosis Occurring after Systemic Steroid Therapy / 대한의진균학회지

Cutaneous mucormycosis is a rare disease caused by zygomycetes such as Rhizomucor, Mucor, Absidia, and Rhizopus. The disease usually occurs in immunocompromised individuals, and the organism is rarely pathogenic in an immunocompetent host. Herein, we report a 77-year-old female patient who had multiple erythematous papules and pustules on the left 3rd finger. She had received systemic steroid therapy prior to the occurrence of the skin lesions. The histopathological examination of Periodic Acid Schiff stained section showed chronic granulomatous inflammation and fungal hyphae. Rhizopus species was isolated on the fungal culture of the tissue specimen. The patient was finally diagnosed with cutaneous mucormycosis and was treated with itraconazole.

Multiple discharging sinuses: an unusual presentation caused by Absidia corymbifera.

A case of zygomycosis presenting with non-healing multiple discharging sinuses in a diabetic patient is reported here. The debrided tissue on histopathological examination revealed dense infiltration with aseptate fungal hyphae. Potassium hydroxide mount showed hyaline aseptate hyphae suggestive of zygomycosis. On culture, Absidia corymbifera was isolated. The patient responded to surgical debridement and therapy with amphotericin B followed by itraconazole.

The Enzymatic Approach of Zygomycosis - Causing Mucorales / 대한의진균학회지

Various oxidases and hydrolytic enzymes were analyzed to investigate the relationship between these enzymes and the skin pathogenicity of 18 Mucorales strains. Each strain was cultured in a nutrient medium containing starch as a carbon source. The cells grew quickly and were at a good state of growth after incubation for three days. Oxidase activity was not detected in any strain, whereas Mucor spp. including Mucor racemosus IFM47053 typically had high alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity and all the strains had catalase activity. The culture filtrate and the cell free extract of each strain were applied to APIZYM test system, which revealed that all the strains examined produced many hydrolytic enzymes both inside and outside their mycelia. In the case of Absidia corymbifera strains, lipase activity was comparatively high, and polysaccharide hydrolytic enzymes such as alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, alpha-mannosidase, and alpha-fucosidase were produced.

Necrotizing (malignant) otitis externa: an unusual localization of mucormycosis.

Malignant otitis externa (MOE) is a severe infection of external auditory canal and skull base. A 17-year-old diabetic girl was admitted with diabetic ketoacidosis. Cellulitis of her right ear occurred on the second day of hospitalization and a black necrotic scar in the same region appeared on the next day. The lesion rapidly invaded to right side of neck and surrounding tissue of the patient. Therefore, antimycotic therapy was started. Unfortunately the patient died on seventh day of hospitalization because of probably extensive fungal invasion. Physicians should suspect MOE connected to mucormycosis especially in patients with cutaneous lesions of ear unresponsive to antibiotic therapy.

Purification and properties of isoflavone-glucosidase / 生物工程学报

A high activity isoflavone-glucosidase, which hydrolysis glycosides, was obtainde using liquid fermentation from Absidia sp. R strain. The isoflavone-glucosidase was purified 11 folds with yielding rate of 10.9% after ammonium sulfate precipitation and DEAE-Cellocuse (DE-52) ion exchange chromatography. SDS-PAGE results showed that the molecular weight is 53kD. And the optimum temperature, the optimum pH, Km and pI of the enzyme are 50 deegrees C, 5.0, 1.3 x 10(-2) mol/L and 3.2, respectively. The isoflavone-glucosidase is also rather stable under 60 degrees C and in pH range from 5.0 to 7.0. The enzyme can be activated by Co2+ and Ca2+, and be inhibited by Ag+ and Cu2+.

Hydroxylation of 16alpha, 17alpha-epoxy-4-pregenene-3, 20-dione by Absidia coerulea with pseudo-crystallo feed / 生物工程学报

The 11-hydroxylation of 16alpha,17alpha-epoxy-4-pregenene-3,20-dione as a useful intermediate for the preparation of hormones can be achieved by the mycelium of Absidia coerulea at higher conversion rate than using other strains. In this paper 16alpha,17alpha-epoxy-4-pregenene-3,20-dione mixed with a little water, beta-cyclodextrin, Tween-80 was introduced into the fermentation broth after ultrasonication to increase pseudo-water-solubility of the hydrophobic substrate. This pseudo-crystallo feed could avoid the toxicity of organic solvents and was more available for the microbial transformation. The multi layer feed-forward neural network was used to setup a model which indicated the relationship between medium and feed components and the conversion rate. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), which was a stochastic global optimization algorithm and of which the convergence speed was high, was applied to obtain the optimal concentration of the medium and feed components. At optimum conditions with the pseudo-crystallo feed, the conversion rate of 16alpha,17alpha-epoxy-4-pregenene-3,20-dione at an initial concentration of 10 g/L was 87.5% in shaking flasks. The conversion rate of the substrate was up to 86.6% at higher concentration of 20 g/L feed in a 3.7 L fermentor.

Estudo comparativo da flora fúngica conjuntival em portadores de hanseníase de Hospital-Colônia e nos indivíduos sadios no Planalto Central / Comparative study of conjunctival fungi flora in patients with leprosy hospitalized at the Colonia-Hospital and of healthy people in Planalto Central

Objetivo: Comparar a flora fúngica de pacientes portadores de hanseníase residentes em Hospital-colônia e indivíduos sadios. Métodos: Grupo A: sessenta e um pacientes portadores de hanseníase, residentes no Hospital-colônia de Goiânia. Grupo B: trinta e sete indivíduos de vários bairros de Gpiânia sem sinais e sintomas de qualquer alteração oftalmológica e sistêmica. Resultados: No grupo A foram isolados fungos da conjuntiva de 12 pacientes (19,67 por cento), sendo o gênero Candida o mais isolado seguido do Aspergillus ssp e Penicillium ssp. No grupo B foram isolados fungos da conjuntiva de 7 indivíduos sadios (18,92 por cento), sendo encontrados apenas fungos filamentosos dos gêneros Aspergillus spp, Penicillium spp, Absidia spp, Fusarium spp, Mucor spp, Fonsecae petrosae. Conclusão: Candida foi o gênero predominante na flora conjuntival dos portadores de hanseníase: fato que poderia ser explicado pela imunodeficiência celular que esses pacientes apresenta, associado ao olho seco e ao uso prolongado de antibióticos, o que levaria a predisposição do referido agente nos portadores de hanseníase do presente estudo.

Influence of fowl uropygial gland and its secretory lipid components on the growth of skin surface fungi of fowl.

Fungal species, which were shown to colonize consistently on the skin surface of the breast region of adult (1 year old) white leghorn fowl, were identified as Aspergillus sydowii, A. tamarii, A. rugulosus and Absidia corymbifera. Of these, A. sydowii and A. tamarii were the dominant forms. Two species of fungi, namely, Aspergillus niger and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were shown to be present in the cultures of the scrubbings from breast skin surface after 60 days of captivity of the fowls. Extirpation of the uropygial gland resulted in encouragement of the in vitro population growth of all species of fungi except that of A. rugulosus. The effect was found to be very conspicuous for A. sydowii and A. tamarii, particularly after 60 days of gland removal. Addition of total lipids and the wax diester component of free-flowing uropygial secretion as 0.2% suspension in Sabouraud's agar medium of individual fungal isolates caused marked suppression of the population growth of A. sydowii, A. tamarii, Absidia corymbifera and to some extent of S. brevicaulis. Other components of secretory lipids, such as wax alcohols (2,3-alkane-diols), wax acids, triglycerides and hydrocarbons (including squalene) when supplemented separately to culture medium of individual fungi at identical concentration, were also shown to cause inhibition of the growth of most of fungal species at different degrees.

Actin cytoskeleton structure and its localization in gongronella butleri, mucor javanicus and absidia cylindrospora (mucorales-zygomycetes)

Mediante estudios de microscopia òptica de fluorescencia se describe y caracteriza la estructura, distribución y localización de la actina, en tres especies de hongos de la clase zygomycetes: absidia cylindrospora, gongronella butleri y mucor javanicus. La estructura de la actina fué analizada utilizándose el marcador fitc-phalloidina, especifico para actina, en muestras fijadas con formaldehido. En los resultados se observan diferencias en la estructura, distribución y localización de esta proteina en las especies analizadas. Filamentos , aglomerados, placas o aglomerados periféricos y gránulos, fueron las formas más comunes encontradas en los hongos, con prevalencia de los aglomerados observados en todos los citoplasma de las hifas. La tinción de actina en losápices de las hifas, solo se observó en mucor javanicus, esta diferencia en la estructura de la actina podría estar asociada a zonas de expansión de la pared celular de los hongos

A Case of Cutaneous Mucormycosis Developed in a Diabetic Patient with lnjection of Paraffin on the Face

Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection caused by the mucorales, which consist of the Rhizophus, Absidia, Mortierella, and Mucor. The diverse clinical forms of mucormycosis can be categorized as rhinocerebral, pulmonary, disseminated, gastrointestinal, cutaneous and miscellaneous. Although it can cause disease in healthy people, it most commonly affects patients who are diabetic or immunosup-pressed. Rarely, mucormycosis develops confined to the subcutaneous tissue. We experienced a case of cutaneous mucormycosis developed in a well-controlled diabetic patient who had previously injected foreign material on her face for an aesthetic purpose at the behest of an unlicensed physician. The patient had tissue necrosis and purulent discharge on her left cheek. Following histologic examination, we diagnosed the condition as cutaneous mucormycosis and treated it by wide excision combined with amphotericin B therapy. The disease was cured without any significant sequelae within 6 months of follow up. Cutaneous mucormycosis is rarely reported but it can cause facial deformity due to tissue necrosis, so that early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are important. Currently, foreign material injection for aesthetic purposes is still performed by unlicensed physicians. We present a case report concluding that one should consider the possibility of fungal infection in skin lesion in diabetic or other immunosup-pressed patients. We also emphasize the seriousness of illegal injection of foreign material.

El caso de infecciosas: zigomicosis rino-facial / The case of infectious diseases: zygomycosis rhino-facial

Se presenta un caso de infección zigomicótica en un paciente de 52 años con diagnóstico previo de linfoma no Hodgkin. Aunque la infección micótica por Absidia sp. es favorecida en este caso por condiciones subyacentes como leucopenia severa con deficiencia de granulocitos y tratamiento quimioterapéutico agresivo, la forma de presentación rinoorbitaria sin compromiso cerebral al igual que la ausencia de otras características clínicas clásicas de este tipo de compromiso es notable. Se observan en este caso manifestaciones pulmonares concomitantes pero desafortunadamente, no se llega a establecer su etiología aunque se sospecha fuertemente una diseminación micótica.